At Least He Wasn’t in a World of Hurt

New Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Dennis Eckersley may have given up that home run to Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series, but he doesn’t believe that was as bad as what the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Ralph Branca did in 1951. Bobby Thomson’s home run off Branca -- “the shot heard ‘round the world” -- sent the New York Giants to the World Series.

“I’d rather be me than him,” Eckersley said. “That home run was bigger than mine. Mine was the first game of the World Series. At least we had a chance to come back.”

Acting the part: Eckersley was a menacing figure on the mound. “I came across as a real cocky guy,” he said while in Cooperstown for the recent induction ceremonies.

“Everybody said, ‘Hey, this kid’s got potential,’ so for me I thought if I could act really cocky, they’d think, ‘He’s got confidence, he knows what he is doing.’ ”

Trivia time: Paul Molitor, the other 2004 Hall of Fame inductee, is one of five major leaguers to finish with at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Who are the other four?

Good place to practice: Maria Sharapova has appeared relaxed and confident in her many television appearances since winning Wimbledon. Agent Max Eisenbud told Sports Illustrated: “We’ve been preparing for this for years. We did Craig Kilborn’s show last year, and the thinking was that if you mess up on that, who knows about it?”

Pricey T-shirt: For a three-week period ending July 23, guests on Jay Leno’s show, including Sharapova, signed a yellow Lance Armstrong jersey to be auctioned off to raise money for Armstrong’s foundation. The auction on style.com/wearyellow ends today at 4 p.m. At last check, the bidding was at $8,500.

Quite a feat: Mike Krzyzewski, a guest on Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” said: “The Lakers were great. They put something in my mind that I didn’t think could be put in my mind -- the thought of leaving Duke.”

Next challenge: What’s next for Danny Williams after knocking out Mike Tyson? Reader Bill Littlejohn says, “Now he’s got to get past Tonya Harding in her comeback attempt.”

Hitting above the belt: NASCAR’s Tony Stewart of Rushville, Ind., appears to have an expanding waistline these days. Said TNT pit reporter Matt Yocum: “That’s why his nickname has gone from ‘Rushville Rocket’ to ‘Krispy Kreme Comet.’ ”

Looking back: On this day in 1979, New York Yankee catcher Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash while practicing takeoffs and landings near his home in Canton, Ohio.

Trivia answer: Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Lou Brock.

And finally: Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, on President Bush’s taking his second tumble off his mountain bike in two months: “Speculation, at least among Democrats, is that Dubya must’ve been leaning too far to the right.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.